Student Spotlight: Deepali Doddi ’10

Summer Stipend Recipient

Deepali Doddi began her 2L year unsure about what her future would hold. She had considered public interest law, but wanted more exposure to that type of work before committing to it.

Enter the Law School’s Summer Stipend Program, which provides students with financial support to take otherwise unfunded public interest law positions during the summer months. Unique in size and scope, the program allows more than 100 students each year to pursue legal work with a public service component, providing them with valuable skills, contacts, and experience.

“I had taken Professor Hull’s disability law class and really enjoyed it, so I pursued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for my Summer Stipend experience,” says Doddi. “I felt a real connection to the work I did on a disability discrimination case in the Department’s Office for Civil Rights, and that helped cement my decision to work in the public interest sector,” says Doddi. “Without the Summer Stipend Program, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to explore this area of the law.” As a result of her great work last summer, the Office for Civil Rights offered Doddi a permanent legal position in the Chicago field office, which she’ll begin upon graduation this spring.

Last summer, NDLS awarded more than $500,000 to participating students, with more than a quarter of that money coming from alumni, student organizations, and the Dean’s discretionary fund (the remainder is federal work study money). This year, Dean Nell Newton will commit even more resources to the program.